Branciforte Creek Bicycle and Pedestrian Counts

Throughout our project, Melissa and I remained connected to not only our community, but also the City of Santa Cruz. Our first experience was working with our mentor Tiffany Wise-West, the Climate Action Analyst of the City of Santa Cruz, to construct a grant requesting funding for two bicycle counters to be installed at specific locations in Santa Cruz. Since then, we’ve been working with the City of Santa Cruz on other projects in preparation for their Bike Plan Update of 2015. 

Recently, we were asked by Cheryl Schmidt, Transportation Coordinator for the City of Santa Cruz, to help conduct bicycle and pedestrian counts to collect relevant data of the volume of pedestrians and people biking near the intersection closest to where Branciforte Creek meets the San Lorenzo River. Currently, the River Levee path does not connect at this location, but a project is underway to build a bridge across the creek and connect the levee path. Melissa and I conducted counts for one hour at the Soquel/Riverside/Dakota intersection in downtown Santa Cruz. We marked down the direction the pedestrian and people biking were coming from in order for the City of Santa Cruz to see if this projected installation would have a high volume of people using it. 

The results for people walking were: Eastbound 35, Southbound 24, Westbound 32, and Northbound 18. 
The results for people on bikes were: Eastbound 34, Southbound 23, Westbound 29, and Northbound 19. 

We found it interesting to note that the frequency of people biking and pedestrians were similar in amounts, with the Eastbound being the highest for both, Westbound being the second highest for both, Southbound being the third highest for both, and Northbound being lowest for both. Likely the high traffic numbers heading east reflect commute patterns of people heading home in the afternoon since we did the count from 4 - 5 PM on a weekday. It wasn't clear from our count how many of the people heading north and south were connecting with the levee path on either side, but this data will be used by Cheryl Schmidt in a grant application for the completion of this project. 

Arana Gulch Multi-Use Trail Site Visit

During fall quarter and winter break, our team did research on automated bicycle counter technology, brands, and models to identify which kind of counter technology would be best suited to Santa Cruz. Ultimately, the one location we identified as feasible to pursue during this academic year was the new Arana Gulch Multi-Use Trail that is being built. Although we did not receive any funding to purchase a counter, we have been in communication with the project manager Chris Schneiter, who works with City of Santa Cruz Public Works, about the eventual possibility of installing a bicycle/pedestrian counter near one of the entrances to the path, which will connect Frederick Street to Agnes Street to the Harbor to Brommer Street through a few paved paths. Two bridges are being constructed to span the gulches near this open space area.

Our team met with Chris Schneiter to learn more about the project and visit the in-progress construction of the paths and bridges. Below are some photos from our site visit, and you can learn more about the project on the project's blog here.

We walked out to the anchor point for one side of the new suspension bridge. It will be the first bridge of its kind in Central California, and it allows construction of the bridge without interfering with the ecosystems below. No support columns or access roads are necessary in the riverbed. The giant cables will be strung across and tightened on either side.

Here's the view of the future suspension bridge. You can see that cables have been strung across already in preparation for the bridge.

The light pink path visible on this side of the chain-link fence is part of the new multi-use trail! It's porous concrete, so water seeps into the material and into the ground below. It's smooth enough for bicycles to ride on. 

Here's a closer view of the trail material. This part of the trail leads to the Harbor and a bridge connecting to Brommer Street.

A bridge is being built from Brommer Street to the new trail, crossing Arana Creek.

The beautiful setting of the new trail beside Arana Creek.

Here's a better view of Arana Creek and the location of the new bridge from Brommer Street to the multi-use trail.

It was exciting to see the progress that has been made on this trail! If you want to learn more about the project, please visit http://aranatrailproject.blogspot.com/ and keep your eye out for updates about the bicycle counter that will hopefully be installed at the trail in the near future!